'Three Strikes' still in the game

In response to “Gov. Brown and the repeal of ‘3 Strikes’ ” (Opinion, April 16): California has locked up too many people for too long. Now that the state has closed its prison doors to most people convicted of a petty crime, it is our chance in San Diego to make smart choices about who we send behind bars and who we think can be held accountable within the community, through house arrest, work furlough, or other such programs. We need to hold offenders accountable while also doing everything we can to prevent future crime.

While other counties resist the new reality, San Diego is working on implementation and problem-solving. Thanks to San Diego’s collaborative spirit, we have things like the Community Transition Center, where people returning to our communities from prison are informed of their responsibilities and provided with basic supports – like housing and food – that everyone needs to successfully re-enter the community and break out of that cycle of crime.

I am confident that San Diego will do better than the state has, and that means our communities will be safer. – Margaret Dooley-Sammuli, senior policy advocate, ACLU of San Diego and Imperial Counties, Mira Mesa

We all want to live in safe communities. That means we need to hold people accountable for the harm they do. And we need to figure out what can be done to prevent future crime by those same individuals and by others who might follow in their footsteps. Fortunately, we know a lot about what to do. The hard part is making the political and fiscal decisions to invest in what works.

As the county adapts to Criminal Justice Realignment, San Diego appears to be making the hard decisions and putting public safety ahead of politics and ideology. That’s why the county is expanding the East Mesa Detention Facility, establishing a special court to more closely monitor people in the community and implementing systems to connect people returning from prison to the basic necessities they need to successfully exit the criminal justice system.

Public safety isn’t just about jail cells and cops on the street. It’s also about housing, employment and access to food. Investing only in jail cells will prevent our communities from being as safe as they could be. – Alan Mobley, associate professor of criminal justice and public affairs, San Diego State University

California cannot afford to house people for inmates for outrageous amounts of time and expect us taxpayers to pay for it. We are going back in time to unfair punishment for bogus crimes. How is it possible for a murder or a rapist to be walking the streets after serving a few years in prison? But the man who took food and money to feed his family is being locked up for life because of our current California Three Strikes law has given him/her a life sentence.

Yes, Proposition 36 passed recently, but this will only help a small percentage of those sentenced under California’s Three Strikes law. There are still well over 20,000 “nonviolent” three-strikers locked up for life. The conditions in prisons are harsh and cruel. We need to remember these prisoners belong to someone’s family. These are the sons, daughters, husbands and wives of our community members.